Watching the Academy Awards with friends is always more fun than a viewing party for one, whether you’re a film buff who saw all the Best Picture contenders on opening day or a fashion obsessive already dying over Cate Blanchett’s dress on the red carpet. But the idea of throwing a party on a Sunday night can seem a bit daunting, we know! To help ease the stress, we’ve put together a list of eight entertaining essentials that will make your Oscar party prep as effortless as Eddie Redmayne’s performance in The Danish Girl. Now the only thing you have to worry about is if Leo is finally going to get that Lead Actor win.
1. Acme Party Box Co. Gold Cocktail Shaker ($54): Award your bar cart a gold statue of its own with this chromed-out cocktail shaker. It’ll help you whip up cocktails quickly and chicly — plus, it’ll serve as serious eye candy when you’re not using it.
2. White Whale Your Older Brother Vodka Mixer ($11): Speaking of cocktails, this vodka mixer is packed with seasonal flavors of fir and citrus. Add ice, vodka and a splash of sparkling lemonade for a drink that’ll keep your guests happily buzzed through even the longest speeches.
3. The Flair Exchange Confetti Filled Balloon ($5): Get that celebratory feeling confetti always gives you — without the messy aftermath — with a bunch of these confetti-filled balloons tied to your bar cart or kitchen chairs. Plus, the black, gold and white color scheme is the perfect complement to the glam Oscar vibe.
4. Miss Jones Baking Co. Organic Cake + Brownie Mix ($30): While we’d happily eat potatoes every single day if it meant being stuck on a deserted planet with Matt Damon, we don’t recommend the same spuds for an Oscars party menu. These sweets mixes are yummy, organic and super easy to throw together.
Mosser Glass 10″ Jade Cake Plate
Brooklyn’s Eilis Lacey would use in her shared New York City kitchen for special occasions. Pile up a plate of brownies or artfully arrange your cupcakes for your table centerpiece.
Made by Brit + Co Cheese Board Kit by DESIGN*SPONGE
and cheese board with this fun wood-burning DIY kit.
The Flair Exchange Tassel Garland Kit
are the Oscars, after all) and outfit your living room with these fun, metallic tassel garlands. Double up strands around the fireplace or in front of the kitchen table for maximum impact.
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures